Anybody still miss the old Micro Bed?

O

Old Stony

New member
Working on a project in my shop today and was lamenting the demise of the old Micro Bed epoxy. A lot of us old guys did more than gun repair with that stuff, and I always made sure to have a good supply on hand.
I remember about 40 years ago and old gunsmith friend (he was over 80 at the time) telling me how he repaired an old piano stool with Micro Bed and basically built new threads in it so the seat would screw up and down.
I always managed to have some available on my bench at my gun shop and we sure used it for a lot of things...most of which were gun and knife related.
I knew old George that owned Micro Sight company and they delivered to my shop every week, but lost track of him after I got out of the business and moved on.
I understand that Brownell's got the rights to make the Micro Bed and I have bought some from them, but it's just not the same stuff. I think they must have somehow changed the formula.
 
Not sure what that is, but if it is epoxy, it is probably something I would use. I never had much use for Brownell's brand of bedding material. It seemed too much like hard rubber when it set up. I was always a fan of epoxy style stuff.
 
Nope! Don't miss it at all! It never set up hard, which makes for trouble on bedding rifles. Like a lot of 50-50 epoxies, it remains soft and pliable, which makes for trouble when glassing a thin fore-end to try and stiffen it. The 50-50 mix ratio is easy to get slightly off, and when you do the epoxy takes forever to harden. The color was close but just enough off of wood color that you could always tell where a stock had been repaired. And since it was thick like a gel, it did not penetrate into the wood and hold repaired surfaces well. Should I keep going? So no, I don't miss it. Not at all.
 
Devcon steel putty 10110 is what I use exclusively. Note that the mixing ratio is 20-80. One part white hardener to four parts of black resin. Hard as the real steel, and doesn't shrink.

For smaller jobs (building up a front sight for instance), I use jb stik.

For really stiffening forearm, I bury v6 engine pusher rod in the wood.

-TL
 
I use West Systems epoxy, fillers, and pigments. I have been using them for about 30 years. During that time, I have probably built 250 rifles, both wood stocked and composite stocked, and never an issue with the epoxy resins.
 
Devcon steel putty 10110 is what I use exclusively. Note that the mixing ratio is 20-80. One part white hardener to four parts of black resin. Hard as the real steel, and doesn't shrink.
Click to expand...

Great product. I always used the aluminum Devcon because it always worked for me. Weather steel or whatever the makeup is 80% of the metal and 20% epoxy.
 
Devcon is a great product for bedding, etc..., but I always liked Micro Bed for parts of the wood that needed repair and things like that. You could take a bit of it and place it into a dent or damaged part of the wood, cover it with masking tape and it would stay in that position until it dried and you could do minimal work to finish off the repair. I have built up quite a few rifles over the years with broken toe areas of the buttstocks, and never had a complaint with the old Micro Bed. You have a stock that has a wider barrel channel that the barrel you are putting in it, you just fill in the extra area with Micro Bed. Must have had a hundred uses...
Yep...there are more things on the market nowadays that do specific jobs, but the old Micro Bed was very versatile.
 
As I remember the old Micro Bed was fairly running and one had to build "dams" of modeling clay to keep it from places you did not want it to go. I remember when they came out with an improved version that was a whole lot thicker and easier to work with. So no, I do not miss the old runny Micro Bed at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top